Tesla's Elon Musk Overtakes Mark Zuckerberg To Become 3rd Richest Man

He can be polarising at times but Elon Musk can't be kept out of the news. This time around after a stock split for Tesla, the eccentric co-founder and CEO of the world's most valuable automotive brand has become the third richest man on the planet, in the process overtaking the likes of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the recently turned 90, Warren Buffet who has been an icon for more half a century.

The South African born billionaire who is also the founder of SpaceX now is worth $115.4 billion as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His wealth has grown $87.8 billion alone in 2020. This is fascinating considering the automotive industry has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Musk trails Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates with whom he is known to have a few skirmishes over the COVID-19 pandemic and electrification of transportation. Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos is a ways away from Musk at number 1, with his worth being over $200 billion. Musk's SpaceX competes with BlueOrigin.

Musk's latest gains come on the back of a stock split for Tesla which has led its stock's value to surge by 12 per cent. Musk is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded PayPal in the late 90s and used his wealth from it in Tesla and SpaceX. He is also behind the Boring Company which is making underground tunnels for faster travel of vehicles in Los Angeles.

Musk is not known to spend as much as his fellow billionaires. Notoriously, it was claimed most of his wealth is tied up in his stock in Tesla and SpaceX, apart from fixed assets in a lawsuit. Musk earlier in the year tweeted that he would sell most of his assets including his house. Reportedly, he has already agreed to sell his four houses in Los Angeles for upwards of $62 million.